BAN CARCINOGENIC PESTICIDES

Colorectal cancer kills more adults under 50 years old than any other cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.

One cause may be the pesticide picloram. 

When scientists compared the incidence of early-onset colorectal cancer to pesticide use by county, the strongest link was to picloram. Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto (now Bayer)’s Roundup herbicide, was a close second.

Scientists also used epigenetic fingerprints to pinpoint exposure risks, again finding that early-onset colorectal cancer is consistently associated with picloram.

The correlation between cancer and counties where picloram is sprayed suggests that exposure is environmental. The data the scientists used to determine pesticide use by county came from the National Water-Quality Assessment, which measures pesticides pollution of surface waters. Picloram is found in drinking water in many parts of the country, so it’s likely that’s how people are being exposed, but the scientists noted that “dietary exposure to residues of picloram is plausible as it has been found in grain and meat byproducts, and the effects of long-term use on human health have not been described so far.” 

LEARN MORE: Dow’s Picloram, a.k.a. Agent White, from the Vietnam War to Today

TAKE ACTION: Ban Picloram and All Carcinogenic Pesticides!

by GRAIN:

“It is not easy to evade the power and influence of Big Tech companies in everyday life, even for those living in rural communities in the global South where internet access is often limited.

Anyone searching for information on the internet, whether in Brazil, India or Kenya, will most likely use Google’s search engine. If they are in China, they will probably use Baidu’s. If they need to connect with their family or friends, they will probably use one of Meta’s social media or messaging platforms, like Facebook, which controls 75% of the global social media market, and 83% in Africa. When ordering food delivery in Brazil, they will most likely turn to the iFood platform (which holds 80% of the market), and if in Southeast Asia, they will almost certainly use Grab.

Such digital monopolies enable tech companies to gather huge amounts of data from billions of people. This power is in turn being used to expand their control over developments in artificial intelligence (AI). Today, eight of the ten largest corporations in the world are tech companies. Each of them has a market value greater than the GDP of 93% of all countries.”

Read how people around the world are waking up to the dangers of this corporate power.

Columbia University Irving Medical Center:

 “An analysis of biological clocks throughout the human body suggests that too few hours of sleep—and too many—may speed aging in the brain, heart, lung, and immune system and is associated with a wide range of diseases.

‘Previous studies have found that sleep is largely linked to aging and the pathological burden of the brain. Our study goes further and shows that too little and too much sleep are associated with faster aging in nearly every organ, supporting the idea that sleep is important in maintaining organ health within a coordinated brain-body network, including metabolic balance, and a healthy immune system,’ says study leader Junhao Wen, assistant professor of radiology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.”

This does not mean that sleep duration alone causes organs to age faster or slower, but it suggests that both insufficient and excessive sleep may be markers of poorer overall health across the body.

For 12,000 years, humans grew food without toxic chemicals, synthetic fertilizers, or GMOs. In less than a century, the chemical industry replaced that wisdom with factory farms, monocultures, and processed food. Globally, governments pour an estimated $600 billion a year into agricultural subsidies, with the overwhelming majority propping up the chemical intensive industrial food system that is making us sick and destroying the planet.

OCA and our international sister organization, Regeneration International, are fighting back. From our work to ban carcinogenic pesticides to supporting the transition to organic and regenerative agriculture worldwide, through education and on the ground projects, we are committed to this mission.

OCA promises to join our allies, U.S. and worldwide, to stop the war on organics. But we need your help and active participation to win this battle. If this work matters to you, please consider making a donation today.

Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Make a tax-deductible donation to Regeneration International, our international sister organization

Have you considered making a grant request from your Donor-Advised Fund?

Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center, Science Daily:

“Eating eggs might do more than just start your day—it could help protect your brain. Researchers found that people 65 and older who eat eggs regularly have a significantly lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, with daily or near-daily consumption linked to up to a 27% reduction. Even modest egg intake showed benefits, suggesting that small dietary changes could make a meaningful difference over time.

‘Compared to never eating eggs, eating at least five eggs per week can decrease risk of Alzheimer’s,’ said Joan Sabaté, MD, DrPH, a professor at Loma Linda University School of Public Health and the study’s principal investigator.

‘Even smaller amounts of egg consumption were associated with benefits. Eating eggs just 1 to 3 times per month was linked to a 17% reduction in risk, while those who ate eggs 2 to 4 times per week saw about a 20% lower risk.’”

Read how nutrients in eggs may support brain health.

by Alexandra Martinez, Prism:

“Indigenous organizers and environmental groups are celebrating a rare and hard-fought victory after a South Dakota mining company withdrew its plan to drill for graphite near Pe’ Sla, a sacred site in the Black Hills. The withdrawal followed a monthslong coordinated campaign that combined prayer, direct action, and legal pressure—tactics that could offer lessons for future land defense fights, organizers say.

Pete Lien & Sons informed the U.S. Forest Service on May 7 that it was withdrawing its plan of operations for the Rochford Mineral Exploratory Drilling Project and did not intend to submit another drilling plan for the site, according to a letter shared by project opponents. The decision came days after a federal judge on May 4 temporarily halted drilling amid sustained opposition to the project from Native nations and local water protectors.”

Organizers say the victory offers a roadmap for future land defense fights.

ORGANIC & REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE

While Big Ag and factory farming continue to rake in billions in government subsidies, the House Appropriations Committee just voted to slash $675 million from USDA funding, gutting the very programs that help farmers make the transition to organic and regenerative agriculture.

Conservation Technical Assistance, the on the ground support that farmers depend on to build healthy soils and implement sustainable practices, just lost $61 million, even as nearly one in four NRCS field staff have already walked out the door. The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program got cut by another $8 million, at a time when less than half of eligible farmer led research proposals are already going unfunded. The Organic Transitions Program was flatlined. The Value Added Producer Grant Program has been cut in half in just four years.

This is a choice to keep subsidizing chemical agriculture while leaving organic and regenerative farmers out in the cold.

Read the full breakdown at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

Chris Sandbrook & Javier Fajardo, The Conversation:

“What do you see when you imagine a conservation area? Perhaps a remote rainforest, a towering mountain range or a coral reef teeming with life. But do you expect to see any people?

It would be understandable if you answered no. Most media coverage of nature ignores people. Many protected and conserved areas to date are classified as ‘high and far’ – in places with rich biodiversity and relatively few people. Many actively exclude human presence.

Yet, people are central to conservation. Humans live with and use biodiversity almost everywhere on Earth. This relationship is becoming more important, as we’ve demonstrated in a new paper.”

Read why the most powerful conservation tool we have is the people already on the land.

Wild Hive, Science Daily:

“Studies suggest watermelon could be a hidden powerhouse for better health. Researchers found that people who eat watermelon tend to have higher-quality diets packed with more vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants — while consuming less added sugar and saturated fat. Another study showed watermelon juice may help protect blood vessel function and support heart health.

Researchers focused on two naturally occurring watermelon compounds, L-citrulline and L-arginine, which are involved in nitric oxide production. Nitric oxide helps blood vessels relax and expand, an important part of healthy circulation and cardiovascular function.

Researchers say watermelon provides an impressive mix of nutrients, antioxidants, and naturally occurring compounds linked to cardiovascular and metabolic health.”

Its high water content and low calorie count also make it an easy way to add more fruit to your diet.

Matt Simon, Grist:

“It’s not just easy to miss, but often downright hard to notice. A simple patch of greenery in a city may seem like a blip in the concrete jungle, but it’s an extremely powerful way to solve a bunch of problems at once: Studies have shown that green spaces improve urbanites’ mental health, make summers more bearable, and prevent flooding by soaking up stormwater. 

When these plots are planned — as opposed to letting vacant lots grow wild, which is valuable in its own right — they become extra powerful. You may have even enjoyed one without knowing it: the ‘pocket garden.’ Tucked into spaces accessible to pedestrians, like sidewalks, hospital grounds, and campuses, they can be engineered to turn heat-absorbing concrete into air-cooling oases packed with vegetation and seating for people to escape the metropolitan bustle.”

This increasing prioritization of creating green spaces in communities is not only going to be making our communities more resilient, it’s going to be making people healthier.

Slow Living: What You Can Do About Climate Change by Vandana Shiva and Shreya Jani — Vandana Shiva’s latest is a quiet but urgent reminder that the revolution we need does not start in a government building. It starts in the garden, the kitchen, and the choices we make every single day.

Marion Nestle takes the Churchtown stage to examine what the Make America Healthy Again movement is actually doing, and not doing, inside the American food system — She looks at food dyes, the GRAS loophole, SNAP restrictions, ultra-processed foods, pesticide politics, dietary guidelines, and the competing pressures of Big Food, Big Ag, and Washington lobbyists, arguing that the rhetoric around reform has been striking while the real test will be whether any of it meaningfully changes public health or the future of farming.

Inside a Historic Supreme Court Case on Pesticide Risks — The Supreme Court is deciding whether Bayer should have warned Roundup users about cancer risk, and whether people harmed by pesticides can even sue in the first place. The outcome will affect every farmer and every eater in the country.

Why We Crave Comfort Food — The foods that feel like home are rarely the ones that come in a box. New research confirms what our grandmothers already knew: real food, made with love and shared with people you care about, is where the comfort actually lives.

3M Faces New Lawsuit Over Forever Chemicals Pollution in Minnesota — The company that spent decades putting PFAS into our water, our soil, and our bodies is back in court. The lawsuits will keep coming until the accountability matches the damage.

Why Organic Farming Feels Slower but Works Deeper — Industrial agriculture optimizes for speed and volume. Organic farming optimizes for life and biodiversity. That shows up in the soil, in the food, and in the communities that depend on both.

A Massive Human Composting Facility Just Opened Outside D.C. — Returning to the earth has never been more literal. A new facility in Maryland is turning human remains into soil. If we are going to talk about closing the loop in agriculture, this is about as closed as it gets.

Fort Chipewyan is Suing for Its Life — A remote Indigenous community in Alberta is taking on the oil sands industry in a fight over poisoned water, sick bodies, and a way of life being destroyed from the outside in. Sound familiar? It should.

Bayer’s Roundup Settlement Faces Critics and Doubts — Bayer’s Roundup settlement is finally paying out, but the people who got sick are seeing a fraction of what the lawyers are walking away with.

Wine’s Leftovers Could Help Wean Chicken Farms off Antibiotics — Nature keeps offering us solutions that do not require chemical input. Grape waste from winemaking may cut antibiotic use in poultry farming. The answer was in the compost pile all along.

New York Lawmakers Pass Pivotal Food Safety Bill — New York just banned three harmful food additives that have been sitting in American food long after other countries threw them out. When the federal government will not protect people, states have to step up.

Salmon Farm Faces New Cruelty Claims as Trump Seeks To Supersize Fish Farming — Factory farming moved into the ocean a long time ago. Now the administration wants to make it bigger. New cruelty allegations show exactly what that looks like up close.

EPA Proposes to Kill Drinking Water Limits for Four Forever Chemicals — The agency created to protect public health just proposed rolling back PFAS limits in drinking water. This is a choice that will cost lives.

Modern Ag Alliance is a Bayer Lobbying and PR Group — The Modern Ag Alliance presents itself as a voice of reason on agricultural policy. Turns out it is a Bayer funded PR operation. Keep that in mind next time they show up in your news feed.

AGRA Exposed for Censoring Criticism of its Green Revolution — Tufts University researcher Timothy A. Wise exposes how the Gates Foundation backed AGRA has been quietly burying research that challenges its chemical agriculture agenda.

Common Sweetener May Harm Critical Brain Barrier, Risking Stroke — Another ingredient hiding in plain sight on ingredient lists is turning up in research on stroke risk. This article is a good read on why checking labels is important and even better yet, eating foods that don’t not have them.

Trump’s Rollback of Toxic Gas Rules Limits Epa’s Authority To Protect Public Health — Communities living near industrial facilities just lost another layer of protection they never had enough of to begin with. The people bearing the biggest burden are, as usual the ones with the least resources to fight back.

Personality May Influence How Long You Live — An Irish study finds that who you are on the inside may shape how long you live on the outside.

USDA Payments for Organic Farmers Delayed — Farmers who took the leap into organic certification are still waiting on the money the USDA promised them. Meanwhile, Big Ag’s subsidies arrive right on time.